In the months he's been in Equestria with no way to leave, Eric Reed's beard hasn't grown back for unknown reasons. When he finally mentions it to Princess Twilight Sparkle, she becomes driven to learn the reason.
Eric soon grows fed up of Twilight's persistence and tries to make her leave him alone. But to do it, he must figure out the solution to one question.
What can Eric, a human, do against an Alicorn that won't leave him alone if she doesn't want to?
Good luck buddy.
This story takes place after the events of my "A Giant Adventure to Equestria" story. However, it is not required to read it first to understand this story other than to learn Eric's backstory and how his bonds with the other characters formed.
Here's the link to the story if you'll want to check it out, and it's an 18-chapter story.
A Giant Adventure to Equestria
Edit on 1/22/20: And special thanks to flutterjackdash for editing the story. Errors that was there on submission are fixed.
You‘d think after nearly destroying the town because she couldn’t read any books, Eric would know to stop giving Twilight ultimatums
10045539
You'll think that, but pride can do that. Eric knows how Twilight can get carried away, which is why he refused to be her "test subject". But he forgot what might happen IF he doesn't just let her do her thing.
Kinda like a catch-22 in a way.
Poor, poor Eric. He has no idea what he has unleashed.
10045654
But he will soon!
“Good riddance!” because having to shave each time it grew back annoyed me.
Blasphemy! only the manliest of men have beard's. Any man that can grow a full thick manly beard should wear it proudly as a badge of honor. And be a beacon of hope for other men who might not be as fortunate as those of us who can grow the manliest of all hair from our faces.
Although I must admit eating soup is a challenge.
10048612
Maybe, just maybe, Eric is so manly that he doesn't need a beard to know his manliness.
Or he's one of the oddballs.
.....Maybe he could ask Spike to send a letter to Celestia?
10052014
That would work. But Twilight has Eric so ratted, he didn't even think about having Spike send a letter to Sunbutt to have her call off Twilight.
10052015
.....Damn.
Nah...I was to busy screaming JUST SLUG THE FUCKER AND APOLOGIZE LATER.
Yeah... a little unsatisfyingly delivered twist. It was still fun up until the reveal though.
10053160
Don't know why that made me laugh harder than it feels like it should have
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I had doubts on if that twist was good enough or do something else. My instincts just might be a little better then I sometimes give myself credit for.
But still glad you enjoyed the story up to that little reveal.
10053284
Oh, the twist was fine. I just thought the reveal was a little ham-fisted. Still a fun story.
10053290
Oh, gotcha.
10053284
It's all in the delivery.
.....BOOOOO.
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Not what you were expecting, huh? And not in a good way.
10053756
You managed to ruin the whole story for me in ONE Chapter.
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I agree it was OK until halfway through this chapter the it was just ruined there’s messing with somebody and then there’s torturing somebody. This falls in to torturing YOUR LITTLE BROTHER!!
A) Grab a gun and shoot her (though that would result in criminal charges, most likely, along with a severely injured or dead alicorn);
B) Get a restraining order;
C) Inform Celestia of Twilight's mosquito impression, so she'll be reined in (...equine pun unintentional).
Personally, I'd do it C-B-A.
Eh; Navi's nowhere near as bad in Ocarina of Time 3D, since listening to her repetitive advice isn't necessary and can be ignored.
No, OoT3D (the only version I've ever played, unlike Majora's Mask - where I've beaten both the Wii VC and the 3D versions) has a more fundamental flaw - Hyrule Field is far too big and open and empty, and without child Link able to ride Epona, traversing it is tedious and boring.
OoT3D was my first Legend of Zelda game, and I loved it at the time, but as I branched out into other games over the next few years, and stopped playing OoT3D, well; the next time I did, and got to Hyrule Field, that's when I realised just how slow the start of the game is. An unfortunate realisation, that.
10342559
That so? Good to know if I ever get OoT on the 3DS.
This is not a practical joke. This is abuse.
If it had been Twilight going Twilynanas, then I could have forgiven it, though I would suggest strongly that she get professional help for her OCD.
I guess it's okay because it's a guy being abused by a girl. If the situation was reversed, say the human character was female and her hear had stopped growing, and Duskshine would not levae her alone, spied on her, did spells on her without her permission and ultimatelyt prevented her from leaving her room, all as part of some elaborate prank, then people would be up in arms. But it's a guy, so he can be spindled, folded and mutilated and has to just laugh it off.
I hate practical jokes in general, even relatively 'harmless' ones. All of them rely on humiliating someone. Once one of the people at an RP session I was hosting used an app on his phone to mess with my new TV, switching it off at random. I was worried that it was faulty and my house insurance wouldn't cover it, and when I found out it was a prank I blew my top, and was 5 seconds from ordering him out of the house and banning him from ever coming in again. Since then I have never trusted him, and don't think I ever will. He was already a jerk I put up with because we have mutual friends rather than a friend, so it's not that much of a loss.
As far as I'm concerned, 'pranks' are socially acceptable abuse, and 'bullying' is socially accepted assault. Simple as.
I hated '28 pranks later', because I like Rainbow Dash, and the character development she'd shown in 'Wonderbolts Academy' felt like it had been thrown away for the sake of a cheap plot. Or Pinkie's awful behavior in 'Luna Eclipsed'. Ruining a person's first experience of trying to be social after a long period of loneliness is not a prank, it's not funny, it's cruel and mean.
Twilight abused her power over Eric for the sake of a cheap, unfunny gag. As they say, it's very lucky Eric is so thick skinned that he won't report her to Princess Celestia for her actions, or even hold a grudge.
Personally, with how ponies seem to be able to breed with several different races despite not having anything in common other than being able to talk, I think he should be glad she isn't pestering him for 'genetic samples' to see what they'd get if ponies were to crossbreed with him.
She's going to shave him bald to study the hair follicles not on his face, isn't she?
Who's worse?
Navi (the "Hey, listen!" fairy) or Kaepora Gaepora (that stupid owl with the selection on "no" so you can't spam through his dialogue)?
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Hmm. How that you mention it, I'm surprised I haven't seen any stories where that happens, yet.
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My pick for who's worse is Navi's "Hey! Listen!", but if I had to see Kaepora Gaepora's cutscenes enough, he would probably be more annoying then Navi.
10344782
I've seen a few comics on other sites, and one or two fics here in the past, but all of them approached it from the lewd aspect rather than the scientific one. If you don't often turn on the option that lets you see mature-rated fics, that would be why you haven't come across them.
The synopsis confuses me. Why would Twilight care about something so trivial? Was she really bored that day or something?
10350478
Easy, she's Twilight. Stuff that's trivial for most might not be for her.
Kind of mean but okay
10920416
Sometime after I wrote the story, I regretted how the story ended. I got a little too cute with subversions.
Wait, they're the same height?! Is Eric that short? (No offense Twily and Eric, but...)
11195313
A quirk in stories with Eric is that adult ponies are about the height of an adult person instead of around 3 or 4 feet tall as they usually are in HiE stories. Back when I wrote the first story with Eric, I wasn't thinking too much about how tall Equestrian ponies might really be, so I had them Eric's height.
11195448
Oh, ok, I understand now.